


Respite

by pterawaters



Series: Mr. Sandman [16]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: All the Byers Have Powers, Established Relationship, Fluff, Jonathan Byers Has Powers, Multi, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Subspace, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:27:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23246260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: After spending three weeks away from them, working for the government, Jonathan meets Nancy and Steve in Miami for an end-of-summer vacation at the beach.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler
Series: Mr. Sandman [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1527764
Comments: 14
Kudos: 67





	Respite

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to part sixteen of this series! If you're new to the series, you're probably going to want to start at the beginning, or at [Sleepwalker](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21583837), where the series diverges from canon.
> 
> Just a quick warning, midway through this fic, there is a discussion of off-screen child abuse/murder of a teenager.

**_August 1988_ **

As he sat at the cafe table, Jonathan couldn't help but turn the ring on his left ring finger. It had been a little longer than a year since he'd stopped wearing it on his hand, and here he was, wearing it again. He'd feel better about it if he was wearing it because of the relationships it symbolized. Instead, he was wearing it because his handler thought it would play better with their mark.

 _You keep bouncing your leg like that, you're gonna scare her off_ , Charlie said, sitting at the next table over, her back to him. She looked perfectly European, with her short hair and the sunglasses Camille had given her to wear, smoking a cigarette and drinking tea.

Trying to hold his leg still, Jonathan replied, _Keep drinking your tea like that and the asshole over by the lamppost is going to proposition you._

Charlie's amusement was colored with a hint of annoyance. _Yeah, I noticed him too_.

 _Oh, I've got someone_ , Jonathan told her, trying not to look at the newcomer to the area _too_ carefully. _Fits the description_.

The woman approached, and then sat down across from Jonathan, a deep smile on her face. She spoke in French, but between reading her emotions and Charlie's rough translation in his head, he got the gist of her greeting. 

With Charlie's help, he skimmed enough of her memory to be able to respond as she expected. The French felt odd on his tongue, but he managed to get through it without much of his stutter. 

When the woman put her hand across the table, Jonathan took it. Without trying hard at all, he knew her name was Marie-Therese, and she had no doubts that Jonathan was the man she was supposed to meet today. She smiled and rubbed her thumb across Jonathan's hand, speaking about how good it was to finally meet him. As she did so, Jonathan took the memories he needed from her, relaying them to Charlie as he did.

Marie-Therese frowned a second later, pointing to Jonathan's face and then passing him a tissue. " _Pardon_ ," he said, taking the tissue and pressing it to his nose to stop the bleeding. He gave an awkward laugh to try to diffuse the tension. 

_Okay, now get out of there_ , Charlie told him, writing down a few relevant notes in the sketchbook she had in front of her.

Jonathan excused himself to the bathroom, insisting that he'd be right back. After going into the cafe, Jonathan made sure the coast was clear and then let himself out the back door. Camille and her van were waiting in the alley for him. He got in and took the notepad she handed him, writing down everything he could remember, just in case Charlie's notes got lost. Camille started the van and pulled out of the alleyway, heading for Charlie's pick-up point.

"Got what we needed?" Camille asked, her English heavily-accented.

"Yes," Jonathan told her, looking at his watch and wincing. "Think I can still make my plane?"

"If Charlie moves her ass," Camille replied, pulling over into a space that wasn't technically meant to be parked in.

"I'm telling her you said that."

A minute later, Charlie got into the passenger seat of the van and Camille pulled back into traffic, heading for the airport.

Jonathan took off the fancy shirt Camille had put him in, glad to be out of it in the August heat, and pulled on one of his own t-shirts from his bag instead. He didn’t bother changing the shorts, but did swap out the boat shoes for his own sneakers. He used his hands to work the gel out of his hair, mussing it so it looked closer to how he usually wore it. 

Finally, he swapped the fancy sunglasses “Richard” wore for his two-dollar general store sunglasses with a big scratch down the left eye. 

_Good_? he asked Charlie, getting her to turn around.

“Yeah, good. Different enough anyway,” she said, turning back toward the windshield. “I’m still pissed you’re bailing early on me.”

“We’ve had this vacation booked for a month, and I’ve already missed the first day of it. You’ll be fine waiting for the plane back to DC in the morning,” Jonathan told her. 

Camille asked, “Can you find your way through the airport by yourself, Jonathan?”

Making sure his camera was still secured in its padded case inside his bag, Jonathan told her, “Yeah. I’m picking up a little of the French, and there’s plenty of people who speak English. I’ll be fine.”

“Hey,” Charlie said as Camille turned into the airport drive, her voice and broadcasted emotions sounding concerned. 

“What?” Jonathan asked her, handing Charlie his notes so he wouldn’t accidentally take them with him.

“If you can, you should shave on the plane. You look hideous,” she said with a smirk.

Jonathan laughed and rolled his eyes. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

“You should leave the mustache,” Camille told him, meeting his eyes in the rear view mirror. “It is very _en_ _vogue_ at the moment.”

“Nah,” Jonathan said, scratching at his face. “Unless I need to look much older for the next mission.”

Camille chuckled. “As you like, my friend.” She stopped the van in the departure area. “Until we meet again.”

“Take good care of my partner,” he said with a friendly nod. Then he gave Charlie half a hug and a kiss on her cheek. “Be safe.”

“You too.”

Jonathan hurried through security and made it to his gate while they were still boarding. He had just enough time to buy some extra batteries for his walkman and the first book that looked at least somewhat interesting at the newsstand next to the gate. 

Someone in Camille’s office had booked his flight three days ago when it became apparent that he and Charlie weren’t going to make their original departure flight, so of course his seat was in the middle of the row. 

Closing his eyes and breathing to stay calm amidst so many other minds so close, Jonathan strengthened his shield, blocking out everyone jammed into the plane with him. Ten more hours and he’d be back with his spouses, ready to start the vacation they’d been looking forward to all summer.

~*~

“You’re sure you wrote down the right flight number?” Nancy asked, chewing at her thumbnail as she watched the arrivals board update, the number and letter flaps flipping over until they settled again.

“Yeah, it’s right there,” Steve said, pointing over Nancy’s shoulder. “Paris. They’re just delayed fifteen minutes.”

“I’m so mad he got to go to Paris without us,” she said, taking Steve’s hand and walking with him toward the right gate. 

“I’m mad those jerks kept him over there for three weeks,” Steve replied. 

Nancy sighed. “At least they flew him down to meet us here in Miami.” 

“Yeah.” Walking by an airport deli and its delicious smells, Steve’s stomach rumbled. “Shit, we’re eating as soon as he gets here.”

“Yeah. Lunch was a long time ago,” Nancy agreed. 

They found the right gate and sat down near it to wait, Nancy letting Steve fiddle with her hand so he wouldn’t get too bored. Eventually, the jetway door opened and people started coming out, a wave of muggy outside air accompanying them. 

“There he is,” Steve said, jumping to his feet and giving Nancy a hand up so they could pull Jonathan off to the side and give him a proper greeting.

“Hi, honey,” Nancy said, noticing how tired Jonathan looked, and how oddly his hair was styled, and how much his beard had grown in since she’d seen him last. As he wrapped his arms around Nancy, she said, “God, I missed you so much.”

“Me too,” he agreed, giving Nancy a kiss that promised a lot more for later. Then he reached for Steve, saying, “Hi, baby.”

“Sweetheart,” Steve said, wrapping Jonathan up in his arms. “You hungry?”

“Starving,” Jonathan agreed, letting Steve take his bag and Nancy take his hand. 

As she entwined her fingers with his, she noticed he was wearing his ring on his hand, not on the chain around his neck. “What’s this about?” she asked, bringing his hand up to her mouth and kissing just below his ring.

“Oh,” he said, shaking his head. “I broke the chain. Didn’t want to lose it.”

“Still looks good on you,” she insisted, getting a nod of agreement from Steve.

“Thanks.”

Nancy and Steve led the way out of the terminal and into the short term parking lot. Nancy smiled at the confusion on Jonathan’s face when they stopped at the brand new, red Ford Taurus with Illinois license plates. 

“Did you rent a car to drive down here?”

“We bought a new car,” Nancy told him, pushing him toward the passenger seat. “Get in!”

“You _bought_ a new car? How?” Jonathan asked, getting in as Steve put his bag in the trunk. 

“Between the money I had saved up, the money _Steve_ had saved up, and trading in the Omni, we had enough money down to take out a loan,” Nancy explained. “Steve’s trust fund income really sealed the deal.”

“We’re not going to turn into rich assholes, are we?” Jonathan asked as Steve got into the driver’s seat.

Snorting at that idea, Steve said, “If we were rich assholes, we wouldn’t have bought a Ford.” He grinned as he started up the engine. “Besides, the Omni kind of died while you were gone.”

“What do you mean ‘kind of died’?” Jonathan asked them. “Why didn’t you tell me? Maybe I could have fixed it.”

“The transmission literally fell out,” Nancy told him, reaching up and running her hand through the longer hair on the back of his head. "It was twelve years old, Jonathan. It wasn't worth fixing."

"Yeah, maybe," he said, putting his hand over his face. 

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, tipping his sunglasses down onto his face as he pulled out of the parking structure. The late evening sun was at just the right angle to get in everyone’s eyes. "Too bright?"

"Just jet lag," Jonathan assured him, reaching over and putting his hand on Steve's thigh. "Also, wondering what you guys are going to buy without consulting me next time I leave the country."

Nancy laughed, squeezing Jonathan's shoulder. "Wait 'til you see the hotel."

"Are you sure we can afford–"

" _Yes_ ," Nancy insisted, knowing Jonathan was probably feeling a little sensitive about having to give up his job at the auto shop. "We've got everything budgeted. It's all fine."

With a sigh, Jonathan nodded. "Sorry. I've been working for three weeks straight. It'll be good to unwind a bit."

"Yeah, babe. You deserve it," Steve told him, paying for parking and pulling away from the airport. "Now, let's get something to eat!"

~*~

All through dinner, Steve had a hard time keeping his hands to himself. He was glad he chose to sit across from Jonathan, rather than next to him like Nancy was, because who knew what mischief his hands would make if Jonathan had been in reach? He had a hard enough time not reaching across the table and grasping Jonathan’s hand every time he set it down on the table. 

Steve barely remembered what he’d ordered a minute after placing it, he was so intent on cataloging every inch of Jonathan’s appearance. If he had shaved at all while he was gone, it had to have been during the first week. His hair was three weeks longer, too, curling a bit at the nape of his neck. The circles under his eyes were dark – he hadn’t been sleeping enough – and his skin was too pale. _That_ meant he hadn't been eating enough of the right foods, either. 

When they got back to Chicago, Steve was going to have to have a talk with Charlie about how best to trick Jonathan into taking care of himself. After living with him for four years, Steve had picked up a few foolproof methods.

Like when Jonathan grabbed a piece of bread from the basket on the table and put it on his plate without taking a bite, Steve reached across the table and stole it, just barely biting into it before Jonathan stole it back and ate the rest of it in three big bites. 

So predictable.

Steve grinned and took a sip of his (non-alcoholic, for Jonathan's sake) umbrella drink. "Admit it. You missed me stealing your food."

"I missed _you_ ," Jonathan said, taking another piece of bread from the basket. "I didn't miss your insane appetite."

"Hey, I work out, babe. Gotta fuel this machine," Steve insisted, giving Jonathan a silly grin to make him laugh. It worked, and Nancy laughed too, hiding her face on Jonathan's shoulder. Leaning back in his seat, Steve stretched his feet out under the table, pressing his foot against Jonathan's.

"I suppose," Nancy said, kissing the side of Jonathan's face, "that you can't tell us much about what you were up to."

"Yeah, not really," Jonathan said, leaning his head against her and closing his eyes. "At least, not here. Tell me more about what you guys have been doing. How'd the rest of the internship go, Nance?"

"Good," she told him. "I made some good contacts." She laughed a little bit. "One of my bosses, Mr. Phillips, was impressed that I got Murray to take a meeting. Apparently, he'd been trying to get Murray to come in and consult on a story for like six weeks."

"What did you have to promise Murray in return?" Jonathan asked. "Some sort of blood debt? Our next child?"

Nancy snorted and shook her head. "I bought him a few boxes of shotgun shells and found him a state senator's home phone number."

This was the first Steve was hearing of this, and he felt really glad that Nancy's super smarts were on his side of things. Because honestly? It was kind of scary what she was capable of. Like, scarier than Jonathan’s superpowers, even.

"What about you, baby?" Jonathan asked. "How are things going with the youth shelter?"

"Good," Steve told him truthfully. "There's this one kid who's a total shit, but the rest of them are awesome. Oh, I managed to get Theo's family into a more permanent situation."

Looking down and picking up his balled-up straw wrapper, Jonathan said, "Yeah, I'm sorry I had to bail on you guys before I got very far with him. I felt like shit about that."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it, sweetheart," Steve insisted, leaning forward and reaching across the table to put his hand on Jonathan's wrist. "Nancy and I know this is a sacrifice you're making for our sake."

"We know," Nancy insisted, pulling Jonathan into a kiss. "We'll move heaven and earth to show you how much we appreciate it."

Jonathan closed his eyes and nodded before pressing his forehead to Nancy's and then kissing her again. 

"And I got Will and El to drive up a couple times while you were gone," Steve told Jonathan. "They worked with Theo, got him settled a bit more than he was. It'll all work out."

"Good," Jonathan said with a sigh, but he smiled while Nancy pulled him into another kiss.

Nudging Nancy’s knee with his toe, Steve said, “Hey! Stop hogging all the kisses!”

Nancy and Jonathan both laughed, and Nancy said, “Sorry, baby. We’ll save plenty of kisses for you.”

“How far away is the hotel?” Jonathan asked, still leaning close to Nancy like he wished she was still kissing him. 

“Like fifteen minutes,” Steve told him. “Not far.”

“Good,” he said in a low voice, with a dark look that definitely had Steve’s blood moving southward. 

“Jesus Christ, babe,” Steve muttered, having to look away and take a few slow breaths so he wouldn’t be visibly tenting his shorts for anyone passing their booth to just _see_.

Laughing softly, Jonathan said, “Sorry. I’m sorry,” and there was a soft smile on his face when Steve looked back over at him.

When the food came a few seconds later, Steve gave the waitress his most charming smile and said, “Could we get the check right away, please? Unfortunately, we need to get going sooner rather than later.”

“Sure thing, darlin’,” she said, giving him a wink, which he returned, making her laugh.

Then he attacked his food. “Hey, hon?” he asked Nancy, in between bites. “Did you see if our room had a fridge?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she replied, stealing one of his fries. “Why?”

“Just wondering how much of this I want to eat now, and how much I want to save for later.” She gave him a confused look, so he added, “I really don’t want to do any fucking with an overly-full stomach.”

Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. 

“What?” Steve asked, laughing a little along with them. “It’s a legitimate concern.”

“Whoever said romance is dead, huh?” Jonathan said, giggling a little as he took another bite of his burger.

“Oh, I’m all _about_ romance, sweetheart,” Steve insisted, wiping the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “When we celebrate our anniversary, there’s gonna be, like, flower petals and shit all over the place.”

Nancy rolled her eyes and gave a little laugh. “We don’t need flower petals, baby.”

“No, you know what?” Jonathan said, setting down his burger and leaning back in his seat, stretching his arm out behind Nancy on the back of the booth. “I’m gonna hold you to that. I want some goddamn flower petals. Now it’s just a question of which anniversary.”

Spearing a few more pieces of her salad on her fork, Nancy said, “Yeah, which anniversary? Like, the one where it was finally all three of us together?”

“December 17th,” Jonathan said, and Steve suddenly felt ganged-up on, but not in a bad way. 

“I don’t think you meant me and Jonathan’s wedding anniversary,” Nancy continued, pausing to take her bite and chew it.

Jonathan kissed Nancy’s shoulder and said, “July 18th.”

“What about our anniversary?” Steve asked, nodding to Jonathan. “You and me.”

“June 21st,” Jonathan said with a nod. “Still most of a year away.”

“Yeah, but we’ll celebrate it, right?” Steve asked, thanking the waitress when she dropped off the check.

“If you want to, sure,” Jonathan told him. 

“I want to,” Steve said, taking a bite of his burger before putting it down and reaching for his wallet. 

“Hey, no,” Jonathan said, picking up the check. “You guys bought a car and paid for this whole vacation. Let me at least buy dinner.”

"Sure, if you want," Steve said, getting back to eating. 

Jonathan opened his wallet and sighed. "Ah, shit. I only have francs. Never mind."

With a short laugh, Nancy took the check from him. She pulled a few bills out of her purse and set them, along with the check, onto the table. Loading up her fork again, she said, "I wonder if it's possible for three people to share a bank account."

“Don’t know,” Steve told her, though the thought of it made him smile. They’d be like a real family, all contributing to the same account like that.

“Maybe I’ll look into it next summer,” she said, “when we start planning the wedding.”

"That sounds good," Jonathan told her, pulling Nancy close and sharing a smile across the table with Steve.

~*~

Jonathan fell asleep during the ride from the restaurant to the hotel. The new car had more legroom than the old one had, and the passenger seat padding wasn't worn down either. The difference in comfort level took him off guard and pulled him to sleep. He woke up when someone kissed him. When Jonathan took a surprised breath, it smelled like Steve. 

Blinking as he got his bearings, it took Jonathan a second to focus on Steve and smile at him. 

"C'mon, babe," Steve said, squeezing Jonathan's wrist. "Let's go up to the room."

Nancy helped him out of the car and held his hand on the way from the parking lot to the hotel lobby. Steve carried his bag. As they walked, Jonathan asked, "You guys brought me some vacation clothes, right?"

"We did," Nancy assured him. "Your suitcase is already inside."

Once they got past the lobby and were waiting for the elevator, Steve put his arm around Jonathan's shoulders. "We got you a swimming suit and everything."

Jonathan sighed. He wished they hadn't gone to the trouble. "I could have just bought myself one somewhere around here."

"Just let us take care of you a little bit, sweetheart," Nancy said, squeezing Jonathan's hand.

He shivered at her words, despite her innocent tone. Nodding as they got onto the elevator, Jonathan waited until the doors closed before he said, in a less-innocent tone, "I _do_ need you guys to take care of me."

The way they both got instantly aroused made Jonathan smile. Three weeks apart had felt like a long time, but it wasn't all that long in the grand scheme of things. Jonathan still knew how to drive them both crazy. Now that the elevator doors were closed, Steve kissed him hard, stumbling with Jonathan as he lost his balance and ended up pressed against the back wall.

"Fuck," Nancy breathed, wrapping her hand around Jonathan's wrist and squeezing tightly. She shouldered Steve out of the way and pulled Jonathan into a blistering-hot kiss, pressing the back of his wrist against the elevator wall.

Dizzy under the onslaught, Jonathan broke the kiss, tilting his mouth up where she couldn't reach so he could take a deep breath. He didn't count on Steve being right there, taking over for Nancy. A second later, Nancy tugged Jonathan, her fingers still wrapped as tight as a vice around his wrist.

The elevator door was open, and Nancy pulled him through it, Steve close on their heels. They all but ran down the hallway, stopping at one of the doors. Nancy let go of Jonathan's wrist long enough to swipe a card through the mechanism on the door. Steve pulled Jonathan into another kiss, pressing him against the door, grinding against his thigh. 

Nancy made a frustrated noise, but before Jonathan could ask her what was wrong, the lock clicked and then the door fell open behind him. Jonathan stumbled backward, laughing and just barely managing to keep from falling on his ass. 

The lights flipped on and the door closed, but Jonathan was too busy being kissed to within an inch of his life to look around. Steve’s hands pushed up under his shirt, gripping at his waist, and Jonathan could tell just how much Steve wanted him. The backs of Jonathan’s thighs hit something soft – the bed – and he managed to get his shirt off before falling back onto it. 

Standing between Jonathan’s knees, Steve grabbed for the fly of Jonathan’s shorts, fumbling with the button and the zipper until they came undone. While he was busy with that, Nancy – somehow already down to her panties – fell onto the bed beside Jonathan. She pulled him into a couple of deep kisses before turning his face away and latching onto his neck. 

“Oh, fuck,” he muttered, feeling perfectly present in his body, the way he usually wasn’t. These past few years, especially, Jonathan had been living more and more in his head. It had become a necessity, using his abilities as much as he did.

But being able to forget about everything, and not having to think at all while Nancy and Steve touched his body, holding him down and making him feel grounded and whole? This was what he’d been missing for the past three weeks. 

Nothing else could compare.

“How close are you?” Steve asked, leaning forward with one hand on each of Jonathan’s thighs.

With Nancy sucking a hickey on his neck and brushing her thumb back and forth over his left nipple, Jonathan’s ability to speak actual words left him. He groaned in response to Steve’s question. 

“Cool if I suck your dick?” Steve asked.

Jonathan nodded, taking a sharp breath when Nancy pulled him back into a kiss. He moaned against her lips when Steve’s mouth engulfed him, hot and wet. Before he could even ask her to, Nancy got up onto her knees. Still kissing him, she straddled his chest and caught his wrists, pressing them back against the bed. She broke away from kissing Jonathan long enough to ask, “Good?”

Nancy was pinning down his wrists and his chest, and Steve had his forearms on Jonathan’s thighs, pressing them down against the bed. He vaguely thought he should have felt trapped, maybe even panicked about not being able to move, but he didn’t. He felt calm, and loved, and safe. Before he could respond to Nancy, a swooping thrill rushed through him, like falling, and every inch of his skin tingled and he came, groaning low and never wanting the feeling to end.

“Oh, Jesus,” Steve muttered as he pulled away. “Oh, fuck.” He scrambled up onto the bed next to Jonathan, kissing Jonathan’s palm, and then Nancy’s shoulder, before Nancy made room for him to kiss Jonathan, too, letting go of Jonathan’s wrists and slipping over to Jonathan's other side. 

Steve’s mouth tasted like come, and Jonathan used his now-free arm to hold him close. Jonathan put his other arm around Nancy, holding onto her like a life preserver so he wouldn’t keep sinking away.

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked in a soft voice, her hand rubbing his chest. “You’re trembling.”

Jonathan tried to respond to her with his thoughts, before he realized it wouldn’t work. As Steve broke away from their kiss, looking down at Jonathan too, he asked, “Babe?”

Still unable to get his tongue to cooperate, Jonathan nodded. He hugged both of them and as Nancy brushed her fingers back through his hair, the shaky feeling started to ease. Steve nuzzled in close against the side of Jonathan's face, rubbing his fingers across Jonathan's chest and that helped too. 

Closing his eyes, Jonathan sighed happily. Then, after a long few minutes of being held, the words came almost without Jonathan meaning to say them. "Love you. Missed you."

"We missed you, too," Steve murmured, his mouth close to Jonathan's ear. 

Beside him, Nancy sat up, her knees next to his ribs as she kneeled over him. After urging Steve and Jonathan up the bed, toward the pillows, Nancy followed and pressed a soft kiss to Jonathan's mouth. Whispering against his lips, she said, "Thank you for coming back to us."

"Always," he told her, opening his eyes back up again and meeting her gaze. He lifted his hand to her cheek, "You mean everything to me, sweetheart. I'm always gonna come back to you." Turning, Jonathan bumped his nose against Steve's and said, "I'm always gonna come back to both of you. Wherever you are, that's home."

Steve pressed his lips to Jonathan's firmly, but tenderly.

Nancy put her hands over the one Jonathan had on her cheek, holding it in place as she turned and kissed his palm. Then she slowly kissed the inside of his wrist, then placed more kisses up the length of his arm, just firm enough not to tickle, even on the inside of his elbow. 

Steve kissed his way from Jonathan's lips down to his neck, making room for Nancy to take over kissing him. Smiling against her lips, Jonathan broke the kiss long enough to say, "Don't you guys want any attention? Don't you want to come?"

"Not until you’re inside me,” Nancy told him, her sharp arousal making him start to feel something other than satiated. 

“Christ,” he muttered, kissing her once more before turning to let Steve kiss him as well. “What do you want, baby?”

“Wanna fuck you so bad,” Steve murmured, somehow still wearing his shorts. “Please tell me you’re good for it. God, I missed you so much.”

Breathing heavily at the suggestion, Jonathan nodded and told him, “Get your fucking pants off.”

While Steve did that, Jonathan rolled toward Nancy, kissing her some more and slipping his hand into her panties. He used his other hand to push them off her, gratified when she took over and threw her panties off the bed.

“Here, put your back to me,” Jonathan said to her as he pulled her closer. He moved Nancy’s hair so he could kiss her neck, then pushed his cock through her wet folds, but not quite into her yet. He still felt just a little bit over sensitive, so he pressed his fingers against her clit. 

As Jonathan worked Nancy up, getting her to make the best sorts of noises, Steve pressed against Jonathan’s back. All his skin was warm and comforting against Jonathan’s, and his cock was hard, pressed against Jonathan. He nipped at the back of Jonathan’s neck with his lips, his hand skimming down Jonathan’s back and onto his ass, squeezing gently. Wanting him so much, Jonathan could almost taste it.

Too needy to worry about being over sensitive, Jonathan tilted back his hips. “Please,” he muttered. “Baby, please!”

Steve groaned, and so did Nancy, pressing her lips to the arm Jonathan had threaded in the space between the bed and her neck. Sucking at the skin where Nancy’s neck met her shoulder, he used his fingers to help get his cock inside her. He thrust in, his fingers returning to her clit, his cock surrounded by the wet heat of her. 

“Jonathan!” Nancy cried out. “Oh!”

“Nance!” he replied, thrusting a few more times before Steve’s hand on his hip squeezed, holding him still. “Steve!”

“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” he murmured, his cock wet and slick as he pressed against Jonathan’s hole, gently but oh, so present. “Missed you so bad.” He gave little thrusts as he worked his way in, Jonathan biting his lip and forcing his body to relax and welcome the intrusion. “God, I love fucking you so much. You’re perfect, babe. You feel so good.”

“Yeah, yes,” Jonathan agreed, rocking his hips between Steve and Nancy. He started to get that floating away feeling again, but he held on tightly to Nancy. With his fingers on her clit and his mouth on her neck, she cried out, getting close. 

Steve sped up, changing his angle slightly and Jonathan felt his whole body light up with sparks. If he hadn’t just come ten minutes before, he would have lost it then. Nancy laced her fingers with his, holding his right hand against her heart while his left hand stroked her clit. Her moans and the way she tilted her hips back to meet him, made Jonathan feel so _wanted_ , so loved.

Steve’s soft litany of, “Oh, god. Oh, god. Oh, god!” didn’t hurt either. 

Nancy cried out, her emotions washing over him like a tidal wave as she came. Jonathan shuddered, faltering in the way he met Steve's thrusts, making his cock hit slightly differently. That difference was just enough to push Jonathan over the edge and make him come. He panted through it, grinding back against Steve, _almost_ overwhelmed before Steve finally came for him, crying out.

After panting quietly for a moment, Steve muttered, "God damn," and chuckled softly as he pulled out. Leaning over Jonathan, he pressed a kiss to Jonathan's lips, and then reached over him for Nancy. "I missed this."

"Yeah, me too," Jonathan agreed, turning a bit so he was more on his stomach, one arm still over Nancy. Sleep called to him, making his limbs heavy, his words slurred as he said, "Love you."

"Love you too, sweetie," Nancy said, kissing Jonathan's shoulder and settling against the pillows. 

He was vaguely aware of the lights turning off and a sheet being pulled up over him before Steve laid half his body on Jonathan's back, holding him close and saying, "Love you both." The bed didn't smell quite like home, but Nancy and Steve were both here, both laying with him, tricking his body into believing it _was_ home. He fell asleep easier than he had in three long weeks.

~*~

When Steve got out of the shower, Jonathan was standing at the sink, shaving and wearing only a towel. Steve couldn't help but wrap his towel around his own waist, and then wrap his arms around Jonathan, kissing the shower-warm skin on his shoulder. 

Jonathan smiled, patting Steve's arm with his free hand. "Camille said I should keep the mustache," he said, leaning back against Steve. "What do you think?"

"Eh," Steve replied, kissing Jonathan's still-damp hair, and then his neck a little bit. "Who's Camille?"

"The agent we had working with us in Paris," Jonathan told him, making another pass with the razor and rinsing it out under the tap. He made a few passes on his mustache before speaking again. "You don't have anything to worry about. She knows I'm a married man."

"I wasn't worried," Steve lied, looking up when Nancy joined them in the bathroom, already wearing her bikini and a pair of shorts. "Not when you have this to come home to." Steve reached over and snapped the strap on Nancy's bikini top.

"Hey!" Nancy cried, hitting him in retaliation. The blush on her cheeks was worth it. She stuck her tongue out at Steve, and then put something on the counter. "These are the swim shorts we got you," she said, kissing Jonathan's arm. 

"Thanks, Nance," he said, rinsing out the razor and making another few passes. 

"Anytime," she said, poking Steve in the side. "You get dressed, too. I'm starving."

"We should get room service tomorrow morning," he told her, giving Jonathan's neck one last kiss before leaving the bathroom. He found his own swim trunks from the suitcase, pulling them on. Since the restaurants all required shirts, Steve found a sleeveless tank top and pulled that on, too. He finished off his outfit with a pair of flip flops and his sunglasses pushed up into his hair.

He went back into the bathroom for some deodorant and a comb, finding Jonathan bent over the sink, washing his face. Seeing an opportunity he couldn't pass up, Steve pressed up against Jonathan's ass, putting his hands on Jonathan's hips. "Hey, there."

Jonathan laughed, sputtering at the water on his face. "You're gonna have to wait, baby," he said, standing up and turning in Steve's hold. He grabbed a towel from the rack and dried off his face, now clean-shaven, and smiled at Steve. "I seem to remember Nancy threatening to murder you if we didn't get her something to eat soon."

" _Painfully_ murder," Nancy called from the other room. 

"Hey, you're the one who isn't even dressed yet," Steve said, pulling at the towel around Jonathan's waist until it fell away. "Look at you, all naked and distracting." Steve's mouth watered.

And then Jonathan went and dodged Steve's attempt to kiss him, taking his swim trunks with him as he left the bathroom with a laugh.

Disgruntled, Steve found his deodorant and put it on, calling out, "Yeah, go ahead and laugh, babe. See if I blow you later, like I was planning on."

Nancy snorted, standing in the doorway and watching as Steve combed his hair. There was no point to putting any product in it, what with all the wind and the water of the beach. But at least he could start out the day looking a little bit groomed. Nancy said, "You know you're gonna cave and blow him later, no matter what he does. You can't help yourself, baby."

"So?" Steve asked her, putting his sunglasses back on his head and stepping closer to her. "It's the principle of the thing. A symbolic withholding, if you will."

Nancy laughed, shaking her head and kissing him. 

"Did you bring me sandals?" Jonathan asked, already wearing his shorts, a t-shirt, and a hat. Frowning, he looked up from the suitcase. "Do I even _have_ any sandals?"

"I don't think you have any, no," Nancy told him. "Just wear some sneakers for now. We'll find some for you after we eat."

Jonathan sighed and put his feet in his sneakers. "I don't want to keep you guys from enjoying your vacation. I can go shopping while you're at the beach."

"Are you fucking serious?" Steve asked him with a disbelieving laugh. He pulled Jonathan close and kissed him. "If you think Nancy and I are letting you out of our sight at any point this week, you're mistaken, babe."

"Yeah," Nancy said, joining their hug. "This vacation is about being together, okay? All of us."

"Okay," Jonathan said with a soft smile. "Okay. Let's go eat, huh?"

~*~

It happened when Nancy got up to her hips in the warm Atlantic Ocean. It was stupid, too, because she and Steve had been swimming the day before, while they were waiting for Jonathan's plane to get in. There was just something about the way Steve laughed and bounced in the water, holding Jonathan's sunglasses up and away from him. It reminded Nancy of that night, almost five years ago, and she locked up, unable to follow her boys further into the water, but unable to turn back either. Barb had been killed that night.

Barb had been killed because Nancy had gone swimming with Steve, and then ditched her to go sleep with him. 

Nancy found herself standing there, remembering the picture Jonathan had taken of Barb, sitting alone on the diving board, the demogorgon just behind her. Had it pushed her into the water? Is that why Nancy hadn't heard her scream? Is that why she died? Or had it punctured her body with its claws? Did she bleed out in the Upside Down? Did she spend her last moments still believing Nancy would miss her and find her in time?

When arms wrapped around her, Nancy flinched, but it was Jonathan's voice in her ear, shushing her and telling her, "It's okay. It's just me. You're safe."

"What happened?" Steve asked, his hand warm on her jaw, fingers wrapped around the back of her neck. "Did you see a sting ray or something?"

"No," she said, tears falling down her cheeks when she blinked. How was she supposed to explain freaking out at a beautiful white-sand beach? On vacation? "I just… We were swimming right before…"

"Oh," Jonathan said, putting his hand on the right side of Nancy's face, while Steve's hand stayed on the left side. He wiped her tears away with his thumb. "Barb?"

Nancy nodded. "I'm sorry. We're on vacation, and the first thing I do is _freak out_."

"Hey, don't do that," Jonathan said, sharing a quick look with Steve. "Don't apologize, Nance. It's not your fault."

She made herself nod at him, but it _was_ her fault. She'd dragged Barb over to Steve's house that night, knowing how much she wanted to have sex with him. Knowing how likely it was that she'd be letting Barb make her way home on her own. Knowing that Will had gone missing and not realizing it meant Barb was in danger, too.

"Come on," Steve said, dropping his hand from her face and taking her hand instead. "Let's go sun on the beach for a while."

"Yeah, okay." Nancy let Steve lead her out of the water and back up to where they'd left their sandals and towels. She sat down on her towel, and Jonathan wrapped his around her shoulders. She sighed and told them, "This is dumb. It's way too hot and sunny here for a demogorgon to show up."

Jonathan and Steve both wrapped arms around her, and Jonathan tilted his head against hers. "Your feelings aren't dumb, Nancy. No matter how little they might make sense, they're _yours_ and they're _real_."

"I don't want them to be real," she admitted. "I just…" She sighed, digging her toes into the sand. "I want to move on. I want to be _happy_."

"Maybe," Steve said, squinting out at the ocean before finding his sunglasses next to the towels and putting them on. "Maybe we need to talk about that night? Shit happened and we never really…" He sighed and looked over at Nancy. "We didn't talk it through."

Thinking back, Nancy was sure Steve had to be wrong. So much time had passed since then. Had they really never spoken about it? "I think the closest we got to talking about it," she told him. "Was at prom your junior year."

"Right," he said, leaning closer and pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "Have I told you guys about Seth? This kid I've been working with at the center?"

"Doesn't sound familiar," Nancy said, and when she looked over at him, Jonathan was shaking his head, too. 

"Right," Steve looked out over the water and licked his lips. "The kid's thirteen, okay? Not quite tiny, but not as big as he feels yet. He's supposed to be in the foster system, but he keeps running away. Keeps coming back to us for food. Shelter."

"That sucks," Nancy said, not quite sure where Steve was going with this story.

Nodding, Steve said, "Yeah. He's pretty messed up. He saw his dad beat his older brother to death."

Nancy sucked in a surprised breath. "Oh my god! That's awful."

"It is," Steve said, sighing again. "Anyway, I was hanging out with him one day, and some other kids were playing this game with a buzzer. It rang and Seth just flipped out." Steve gave Nancy half a smile and scratched his eyebrow. 

Nancy wondered why he hadn't told her about this before now.

"After I got him calmed down, I asked him what it was that set him off. He said he'd been watching a game show with his brother just before it happened. The show used the same sort of buzzer."

"Jesus," Jonathan said, looking away from them suddenly, like he couldn’t deal with it.

Nancy put her hand on Jonathan's arm. "Is it too much? Are you getting too much emotion from us?"

"No," he said, looking back and putting his hand over hers. "I just… I used to have the same sort of reaction. When I heard Lonnie's keys in the door." He shook his head, and Nancy couldn't help but pull him closer to her. "I'd freeze up. Feel sick. Every time I heard that sound."

"Oh, honey," Nancy said, holding onto him. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," he insisted, leaning over and kissing her hand on his arm. "It hasn't happened in a long time. I guess I unlearned it or something."

"Right," Steve said, drawing Nancy's attention back to him. "So, back to my story. Seth freaked out. I wasn't doing anything else, so I took him out to the park and just let him … _talk_ to me. Like, once he started going, it was like he couldn't stop. He told me all this stuff about his brother and his dad, and about how his mom died so long ago he barely remembers her. It was all this heavy, sad stuff. But when he was done, it's like most of the sadness was just _purged_ out of him. 

"Like," Steve brushed the side of Nancy's foot with his foot, "I'm not saying he's completely cured or anything. He still can't stand the sound of that buzzer. But he's been smiling more often. My boss says he's making progress. He might actually stay with his next foster family."

"That's great." Nancy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Could she do the same thing? Could she talk enough to purge herself of these feelings? "I just…" she said, looking out at the ocean, listening to the waves crest and fall onto the beach. "I feel responsible. My mom didn't want me to go out that night, because Will was missing and she was scared. So, I lied to her. I told her Barb and I were going to the assembly thing at the school. I strong-armed Barb into coming with me. I _made_ her come. I was so stupid. I should have listened to my mom."

"You were a kid, Nance," Steve said, rubbing his hand on her arm. "You were younger than Mike is now. There was no way you could have known Will had been taken by a monster. You had no idea of the danger she was in."

"We all made dumb mistakes that night," Jonathan said, resting his chin on his arms. "I was right there, too. We thought it was the blood from her cut that had drawn the demogorgon to Barb. Maybe it was me. Maybe it had followed _me_ through the woods."

Nancy took a sharp, surprised breath. That hadn't occurred to her before. Then again, they had only found out recently that demogorgons appeared to be drawn to people with abilities, latent or not. 

"I was so distracted by you guys…" Jonathan shook his head. "I didn't even notice when it took Barb. Maybe if I hadn't been so," he sighed, "blinded by what _I_ wanted… Maybe I would have been able to warn her."

"I was stupid, too," Steve said, still petting Nancy. "I knew it was a dick move, separating you from Barb. My priorities were such bullshit back then."

"To be fair," Jonathan brought his head up, giving Steve a little bit of a smile, "your dick is still pretty high on your list of priorities."

Laughter in his voice, Steve said, "Fuck you!"

"Maybe later."

Nancy laughed, shaking her head. After a long, silent moment, Nancy said, "I guess I'm just having a hard time forgiving myself for what happened. I was single-minded and selfish and it got Barb killed. The same thing happened when…" She looked over at Jonathan. "Those Execugen assholes only found out about you because of me. Because I had to follow up on that lead. It's my fault."

Jonathan shook his head and tried to say something, but Nancy broke into tears before she gave him the chance. 

Even as the sobs rolled through her body, all Nancy could think was how stupid this was. She was on vacation, at the beach, in Miami. She was literally in paradise, and she was having a goddamned breakdown over _swimming_ of all things. "I'm sorry," she said, using Jonathan's towel to sop up the tears as they came. Jonathan and Steve both wrapped their arms around her. "I'm sorry. It's my fault that you have to work for Owens."

"It's not," Jonathan told her, his hand gentle on her face, brushing her hair back. "I made all those decisions right there with you."

"Yeah, because I _forced_ you," Nancy scoffed. "Just like I made Barb come with me to Steve's house. Barb died, and I just went and found a new person who would let me boss them around. I'm such a bad person!"

"Listen to me," Jonathan said, his voice deadly serious. "You have _never_ made me do anything I didn't want to do, Nancy."

"Never?" Nancy asked him, looking at him as carefully as she could with tear-swollen eyes. "Come on, Jonathan. It can't be _never_."

"Never," he insisted, kissing her cheek. "I usually do what you ask, but whenever I do, it's always because I want to. I love you, and I love making you happy."

Frowning as she thought this over, eventually Nancy asked, "Do you think that's why Barb came with me that night? She loved me?”

"She was your best friend," Jonathan said with a nod. "I'm sure she loved you. I'll bet that's why she was waiting for you out by the pool. She loved you and wanted to make sure you got home safely."

A few more tears escaped Nancy's eyes. "I didn't love her enough to make sure _she_ got home safely."

"You loved her enough to make sure the people responsible for her death were held accountable," Jonathan said with a sigh. "Your strong suit is vengeance."

Nancy laughed. "That's not exactly a compliment, is it?"

A smile cracked Jonathan's face. "Yeah, I guess not. Sorry."

Steve rubbed his hand across Nancy's back, "Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Sure," Nancy said, noticing the other people around them on the beach. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to them, which Nancy was grateful for. 

"Bad people? Really bad people? Like my dad? Like Seth's dad? They don't spend time agonizing over whether or not they're good people. Either they already think they're good, so everything they do is justified, or they don't give a shit whether or not they're good." He smiled at her. "So, see? Just asking the question makes you a good person."

Thinking this over, Nancy looked at Steve. She couldn't help but ask him, "Where did you learn that?"

Steve shrugged. "Between my intro psych class last semester, my boss at the center being a psychologist, and just, I don't know, watching people. I picked it up."

Smiling, Nancy leaned closer to Steve. "Is that why you wanted me to talk things through? Flexing your amateur psychologist muscles at me?"

Steve laughed and rolled his eyes. "No. I just wanted to help you feel better, Nance." He gave her a little smile. "Did it work?"

Looking out over the water, Nancy thought about Steve's question. Did she feel better? She felt a little drained. Purged out, maybe, like crying had carried the intense feelings out with it and now she just felt tired. Calmer, but tired. When would this end? When would feeling guilty about this end? Nancy had thought she was over it, but today just proved otherwise. 

What if it was always like this? Never ending. Maybe she deserved it.

Looking over at Steve, then at Jonathan, she decided that _they_ didn't deserve to be with someone so stuck in her grief that she couldn't even enjoy a much-needed vacation. If she couldn't get better for her own sake, at least she could try and get better for them.

Nancy eyed the ocean in front of her. It was just water. There were lots of people playing in the waves. There was even a roped-off section that was safer than the rest of the water. Looking over her shoulder, Nancy spotted the lifeguard up on his stand. Maybe it would feel like a risk, but it was a calculated one. 

Nancy was good at taking calculated risks, if they were meant to help the people she cared about.

Shrugging Jonathan's towel off her shoulders, Nancy told them, "I want to get in the water."

"Do you want us to come with you?" Jonathan asked, getting up onto his knees in the sand. 

Nancy nodded, letting him help her to her feet. She took Steve's hand, too, saying, "C'mon, baby. Let's go."

She held hands with both of them, not caring about what the people around them might think. The water lapping at her toes was warm, and Nancy didn't let herself stop until she was waist-deep again. 

Everything was fine. There was no reason to freak out. They were here to have fun. 

Nancy took a few more steps in, until she was almost up to her chest. As the gentle waves moved past her on their way to shore, Nancy started to feel calm. Then she smiled at Steve and splashed him with a handful of water. 

“Hey!” he cried with a laugh, splashing her back. Then Nancy saw him have the same thought she was having. She grinned at him and they both turned toward Jonathan.

“No!” he cried with a laugh, half-swimming, half-running away from them. 

Nancy caught up to him easily, jumping on his back and trying to dunk him. Except Jonathan stood firm, pulling her onto his back instead of letting himself be dunked. “Not fair!” Nancy told him, but she held on, enjoying being this close to him. 

He dropped down into the water, almost dunking Nancy’s head under, but stopping suddenly before that point. Nancy shrieked and laughed, wrapping her arms tighter around him. 

Steve closed in on them, a wide smile on his face. Nancy wasn’t sure what he was up to, but Jonathan must have known, because when Steve jumped out of the water at them with a playful yell, Jonathan was already moving out of the way. Steve crashed into the water, going under.

Laughing as he stood up, pushing his hair out of his face, Steve said, “That’s not fair! No powers!”

Nancy giggled, using her foot to kick some water over at Steve. “When did we ever set that rule?”

Steve splashed back, and then swam closer. While Nancy was watching him, she just barely felt Jonathan taking a deep breath before he tipped backward, making Nancy fall into the water. She held her breath and closed her eyes, getting up onto her feet with an indignant yell.

Laughing, Steve caught Nancy’s hand, pulling her close and kissing her. Nancy kissed him back, smiling against his smiling lips, standing with him as the waves moved past, and maybe she did feel a little bit better. Jonathan joined them, resting his head on Steve's shoulder and reaching out, Jonathan clasped Nancy's free hand, bringing her in. She kissed his smile too, not caring about the other people swimming at the beach. 

Nancy felt like with Steve holding one hand and Jonathan holding the other, getting past the things that still haunted her was infinitely easier than without them.

~*~

Jonathan woke up to someone spreading lotion on his back, and he took a sharp breath in surprise.

"Just me," Steve said, rubbing the lotion up the back of Jonathan's neck and then over both shoulders. "You were starting to look a little pink, babe."

"Thanks," Jonathan said, groggy from napping in the heat. As Steve continued spreading the sunscreen down his back, Jonathan noticed someone nearby having a disgusted reaction to _something_. He turned his head and looked over in that direction, spotting an older woman looking at them and frowning. Jonathan tried to ignore her, closing his eyes again, and humming happily as Steve's hand moved across his skin. "Where's Nance?"

"She went to the bar back there to get us something to drink," Steve said, patting Jonathan's ribs. "Turn over. Let me do the other side now."

Jonathan did as Steve asked, putting his back on the towel, and noticing the slight discomfort that was the start of a sunburn. He put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, saying, "You take good care of me, baby."

With a soft chuckle, Steve replied, "I certainly try." He put more lotion on Jonathan's chest, rubbing it in with smooth, sure movements. 

The sun above them was too bright, so Jonathan searched around with his hand, finding his hat in the sand and shaking it out a little before putting it over his face. A minute later, Jonathan noticed Steve's emotions turn from content to annoyed. "What?" Jonathan asked, feeling too lazy to move the hat from his face.

"There's this lady looking over here, giving me the stink eye," Steve said. "It's like she thinks I'm about to give you a hand job right here on the beach."

Feeling more than a little contrary, Jonathan moved the hat from his face and said, "Kiss me."

"Yeah?" Steve asked, smiling as he used his finger to put a stripe of lotion down the bridge of Jonathan's nose.

Blinking as he opened his eyes to look up at Steve, Jonathan raised his eyebrows at Steve, daring him to do it.

Though he laughed and shook his head, Steve did duck down, giving Jonathan a soft, lingering kiss. While he was being kissed, Jonathan put up his middle finger in the woman's direction. He felt the sharp spike of anger that was her reaction. Jonathan put his finger down before Steve finished kissing him. When Jonathan looked over in the woman's direction, she had turned her back to them.

Steve must have noticed too, because he laughed and pressed another quick kiss to Jonathan's lips. Then he resumed rubbing lotion into the skin on Jonathan's face. By the time Steve got to his arms, Nancy came back, sitting on Jonathan's other side, where her towel was held down by her sandals and a paperback she'd been reading off and on throughout the day.

"I got three different drinks to try," Nancy told them, handing the green one to Steve. A cold drop of condensation fell onto Jonathan's stomach, making him flinch. "Sorry, honey," Nancy said, setting one of the drinks in the sand and wiping the drop off his stomach. Her fingers were ice cold, making him flinch again.

"Nance!" he said, laughing as he pushed her hand away from him. He sat up, taking the red drink she gave him and asking, "Did the bartender give you shit about ordering virgin drinks?"

"No," she said, stirring her blue drink with a little paper umbrella. "Charged me like they were real drinks, though."

"Thank you," he said, leaning over to press a quick kiss to her mouth before trying his drink. It was cold and sweet, and that was about all it had going for it. He held it out to Steve, who traded him the green drink. Jonathan found this one more tart and refreshing, smiling when Steve made a pleased noise as he tasted the red one. "What should we do tonight?"

"We've got dinner reservations," Nancy told him, "at a steakhouse that's supposed to be good. And I know you won't want to go, but there's this all-ages dance–"

"Excuse me, miss?" said a woman's voice from behind Jonathan. He sighed when he recognized her as the woman who was looking at him and Steve earlier. "I have something I think you should know."

Nancy frowned, looking down at her swimsuit, like she was afraid she was falling out of it somewhere. "What is it?"

"While you were gone," the woman said, frowning down at Jonathan, "your husband was kissing this other man!" She pointed accusingly at Steve.

Nancy looked up at her, squinting a little in the sun, and asked, "What makes you think he's my husband?"

Jonathan had to bite his lips so he wouldn't laugh.

The woman blustered about a little, before saying, "You're both wearing wedding rings! And you kissed!"

A scary smile on her face, Nancy stood up, saying sweetly as she took the woman by the elbow, "I know you're trying to be helpful, ma'am. But I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself, okay? Goodbye."

The woman stumbled away, frowning at them, but leaving. Nancy sat back down in Steve's lap, earning a completely confused look from the woman.

Okay, Jonathan couldn't help but let out a laugh. Steve laughed, too, holding Nancy close and kissing her neck. Nancy reached for the drink she'd left in the sand, so Jonathan grabbed it for her. Before handing it over, Jonathan said, "Nancy, I need to confess something."

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with humor.

"This might come as a shock, but I fucked your fiancé this morning," he said as he gave her the drink.

Giggling, Nancy took it, pressing her free hand to her chest. "Oh no! I had no idea! I am distraught!"

Steve laughed, nuzzling his face against Nancy's neck. "Nance, you were there."

"Oh, right," she said, rolling her eyes and taking a long sip of her drink. "Think that lady's hair would go even more white if I told her what I'm planning on having you two do to me tonight?"

Jonathan groaned at the suggestion, even without the details. "Is this before or after whatever dance thing you want to do?"

"After, obviously," she told him, reaching over and rubbing a finger on the side of his nose, spreading out a stray streak of sunscreen, he assumed. "Dancing is foreplay."

This time it was Steve who groaned. "Nancy, you're wearing next to nothing and sitting in my lap," he said. "Do you have to talk about foreplay right now?"

"Why?" Nancy asked, giving Steve an innocent look as she sipped her drink through the straw in her mouth. "Am I bothering you, baby?"

"You know you are," Steve told her, tickling her ribs and making her laugh. 

Smiling at them, Jonathan finished off his drink, put the glass in the sand, and laid down, his stomach on the towel. "Wake me up when we're ready to go back to the room."

~*~

On their third day in Miami, Steve left Nancy and Jonathan napping off their lingering sunburns in the hotel room and went for a walk down the beach. He had this restless energy that he wanted to get out of his system. If it wasn't so hot, he would have gone for a run, but he was already sweating up a storm just walking out in the afternoon sun. He made it maybe half an hour down the beach before turning around. Halfway back, he noticed a beachside bar playing a baseball game on the TV. Deciding he was ready for a break, he took a seat at the bar and ordered, "Coke, plenty of ice, please."

The bartender laughed a little and said, "Sure," handing him the drink. 

Steve watched the game for longer than he planned on, eventually getting a refill on his Coke and a plate of nachos when he got hungry. A little after that, a guy sat down next to Steve and asked, "Cubs or Braves?"

"Who the hell roots for the Braves?" Steve asked him, turning and seeing that the guy was around his age, maybe a couple of years older, clean-cut and blonde. 

He laughed, and his teeth were all very straight and very white. Sticking his hand out toward Steve, he said, "Nick Wilson."

Not quite sure what this was, but willing to play along, Steve shook his hand. "Steve Byers."

"Nice to meet you, Steve," Nick said, getting the bartender's attention and ordering a beer. "And another of whatever my friend is having," he said, pointing to Steve's soda.

"Thanks," Steve said, fairly certain at this point he knew where this was headed. "What about you? Cubs or Braves?"

"Twins are my team," he said, accepting the beer from the bartender with a polite nod. "So, I kind of have to hate the Cubs. You know, on principle."

"Oh, sure," Steve replied. "But just so you know, I live less than a mile from Wrigley Field. If I don't root for the Cubs, I'm pretty sure my landlord would kick me out."

Nick laughed again, leaning his elbow on the bar and smiling at Steve.

Yeah, Steve recognized that smile.

"Hey," Steve said to Nick, "I'm happy to keep talking baseball as long as you want. But if you're hoping for more, you should know I'm, like, _super_ taken."

"Ah," he said, his smile faltering a bit. "Thanks for not letting me make a fool of myself, I guess."

Steve laughed. "No problem."

Nick looked at him for a moment, then asked, "Was I _completely_ off the mark here, or…?"

"No, no. Don't worry," Steve told him, scooping up another nacho. "You're not wrong. My husband is a guy."

"Husband?" he asked with a laugh. "Aren't you a little young to be married?"

Steve gave him a confused expression. "Wait, how old do I look? I swear, I'm thirty-four."

"What?" Nick asked with another laugh. "No way! Thirty-four? I could buy twenty-four, maybe."

Shaking his head as he chewed his nachos, Steve admitted, "I'm fucking with you. I'm twenty-one."

"Ah!" Nick cried. "I knew it!"

Steve laughed and rolled his eyes. "So, yeah. Maybe I'm a little young to be married. But it's not like it's official or anything."

Nick sighed a little sadly, saying, "True," before taking a long sip of his beer. A minute later, he asked, "So, what are you doing here all by yourself without this husband of yours?"

With a shrug, Steve admitted, "He took a nap and I got bored."

"Won't he miss you?" Nick asked, and Steve got the feeling that he was still trying to pick Steve up, husband or no.

"He'll find me," Steve insisted before gesturing to the TV. "And I mean, watching a Cubs game on the beach?" He gestured out to the ocean. "How could I pass that up?"

"True," Nick said, taking another sip of his beer. He looked out at the beach, eyes focusing on something.

Steve turned to see what he was looking at, and it was Jonathan heading straight for him. 

"Hey!" Steve called out, throwing his arms wide. "Speak of the devil!" He grinned at Nick and said, "See? Told you he would find me."

"You were right," Nick admitted, giving Jonathan a nod as he reached them.

"Sit down," Steve told Jonathan, pushing the plate of nachos over in front of him. "Eat these, huh? You want the rest of my Coke?"

"Sure," Jonathan said, raising a distrustful eyebrow at Nick. 

Steve rolled his eyes. "Jonathan, this is Nick. He's trying to hit on me."

Nick made a strangled sort of noise, but Jonathan snorted a little laugh. "How's that going for him?"

"You know, not great," Steve replied. "I told him I'm married, but I get this feeling that he doesn't believe me."

"You're not wearing your ring, baby," Jonathan pointed out, pushing one of the nachos around the plate, scooping up the cheese. "Probably adds to the confusion."

"Yeah, probably," Steve agreed, turning back toward Nick. "Sorry for the confusion, buddy."

"No problem," Nick replied, chuckling. "At least this is entertaining. I'm in town with my parents and my older sister. They're _so boring_."

"What do they think of you trying to pick up guys in bars?" Steve asked.

Nick sighed and shrugged. "Who knows? Hadn't planned on telling them about it." He nodded over at Steve. "Your parents know about this?"

"Oh, yeah," Steve nodded, smiling over at Jonathan. "Well, the ones we still talk to, anyway."

Jonathan scooted his stool closer to Steve's, putting his arm behind Steve's back and looping his finger through the belt loop at the far side of Steve's shorts. It was subtle and possessive all at once. He took another nacho before telling Nick, "That guy at the other end of the bar is checking you out."

"Who, me?" Nick asked as Steve looked around him, trying to figure out who Jonathan was talking about.

When he spotted the guy, Steve said, "Oh, he totally is. Good luck, man."

Nick toasted his beer toward them and left, heading toward the other end of the bar. 

Steve leaned closer to Jonathan, asking, "Nancy awake too?"

"Mm-hm," Jonathan replied. "She wants to try Cuban for dinner."

"Cool." With a smile, Steve took Jonathan's wallet out of his shorts pocket and pulled out enough money to cover his nachos and soda, plus a tip. He left the money on the bar and handed Jonathan back his wallet. "Thanks."

Jonathan took back his wallet as he stood up, putting it back in his pocket, and then holding his hand out for Steve to take, which he did. "What's this about?" Steve asked, squeezing Jonathan's hand. "Feeling possessive?"

"Is it possible for you to go more than half an hour without making a new friend?" Jonathan asked, but he was smiling and leading the way back toward the hotel. 

"Probably," Steve told him with a shrug. "I just wanted to cool off and watch some baseball. Do I have some sort of sign on my back or something?" He made an exaggerated show of looking over his shoulder. "Does it say, ‘Please hit on me?’”

Jonathan laughed and shook his head. "No, you've just…" He squeezed Steve's hand again. "You've got a friendly face."

Smiling, his cheeks feeling a little hot at the compliment, Steve said, "Thanks, babe.”

“Your friend Leo was right about Miami,” he said, nodding his head towards a couple sitting together on the beach. Both of them were men. “It’s nice, not having to worry so much.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, walking just a little bit closer to Jonathan. “I don’t see any other groups of three, though.”

“No, me neither,” Jonathan said with a sigh. Looking over at Steve, he asked, “Does it bother you? Like that lady the other day?”

“Yeah, kind of,” Steve said. “I never know how much of the truth to tell people.” Pointing behind them, he said, “Like that guy at the bar. I told him about you, but not about Nancy. And most everyone else I tell about Nancy, but not about you. I just…” He looked out over the water for a second before he stopped and pulled Jonathan to the side of the walkway. “I love you so much, I just want to tell _everyone_ about you. It sucks when I can’t.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jonathan said, putting his hands on Steve’s face and pulling him into a soft, but short kiss. “Maybe things will get better. Civil rights and everything.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Steve replied, not very optimistic. After all, there were a lot of people like Fred Harrington around, and absolutely no one else like Joyce Byers. “C’mon, let’s take our girl out for dinner.”

~*~

“Goodbye, Miami,” Nancy said, looking out the back window as Jonathan drove them out of the city. “It was lots of fun!”

Jonathan chuckled, but Steve joined in, saying, “Bye, Miami! Your hotel beds are very sturdy!”

Nancy giggled, reaching forward to squeeze Steve’s arm. “We certainly put that one to the test last night.”

“I can’t believe someone called a noise complaint on us,” Jonathan said, changing lanes. 

Laughing again, Nancy said, “Sorry! I had no idea how loud I was being.”

Steve shared a look with Jonathan that made Nancy ask, “What? Tell me!”

“We maybe,” Steve said, turning in his seat to face her, “had a bet going over who could get you to be loudest.”

Nancy stared at him for a moment, trying to understand. “You _what_?”

“Hey, you weren’t complaining last night,” he said, pouting when she hit him. 

“Who won?” Nancy asked. “And what did they win?”

“It’s not like we bet money or anything, Nance,” Steve said. “Wait, are you really upset? We didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It was our way of saying thank you for organizing this vacation,” Jonathan told her. “Just with … extra incentive.”

“Why won’t you tell me who won?” Nancy leaned forward, looking back and forth between the two of them. “Guys?”

“We declared it a draw,” Jonathan told her. “Since the bulk of the screaming didn’t start until…”

“Until we were both involved,” Steve finished for him. He leaned over, kissing the back of Nancy’s hand. 

She shivered, thinking about being sandwiched between them, who knows however many orgasms in and entirely too over sensitive. “Yeah, okay. That’s fair.”

“How are you doing?” Steve asked her. “Not too sore?” 

“No,” she insisted with a self-conscious laugh. “You took good care of me, baby.”

“Good,” he replied, leaning over just far enough to kiss her. “We’re completely out of lube now, though.”

Nancy laughed, and so did Jonathan, changing lanes again as he finished passing a truck in the slow lane. “If we see a pharmacy somewhere, we’ll stop,” she told him. 

“Fuck yeah,” he replied, settling back in his seat. “It’s gonna be so weird going back to class on Wednesday,” he said. “I’m gonna miss you guys.”

“We still live together,” Nancy told him. 

“Yeah, I know,” he said, “but it’s not the same. I won’t get to spend all day every day with you.” He sighed, and then smacked his armrest, saying, “We should take a vacation like this every year.”

“Sure,” Nancy told him, putting her hand on his shoulder and leaving it there. “That sounds fun.”

“Just one more summer left before we’re college graduates,” Jonathan pointed out. “That’s gonna be weird. Not having to go to class?”

“Speak for yourself,” Steve said with a sharp laugh. “I’ll still be going to class, but as the teacher.”

Nancy gave Steve one last squeeze to his shoulder before saying, “I’m gonna take a nap. Wake me up when it’s time to switch drivers.”

“Sure thing, babe,” Steve told her, reaching for the stereo and turning it up a little. Speaking softly to Jonathan, he asked, “You actually like this one?”

“Yeah. It’s got this awesome complex rhythm,” Jonathan told him. 

“It sounds like the singer is tone deaf.”

Nancy tuned them out as she laid against the pillow she’d brought from the apartment and closed her eyes. There were precious few days left before the semester started again, and Nancy figured she would need to store up as much rest as possible before then.

**Author's Note:**

> You get a long one-shot this time around! The next part of this series is started, but I've been putting most of my effort into a sequel to [my stoncy ABO fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23152801), and toward finishing the sequel to [my stonathan fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22513444). It's all plotted out, but it might be a bit before I'm done with part 17. I would like to finish it before I start posting, so wish me luck!
> 
> Don't forget to comment and let me know what you thought of the fic! Thanks for reading!


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